After two years of negotiations, the EU has adapted its migration agreement to “Polish conditions”. The exemption is justified by the burden the country bears on its eastern border.
Poland borders Ukraine and has taken in approximately 1–1.5 million refugees from there. In addition, it has been troubled by neighbouring Belarus attempting to send large numbers of non-Western migrants across Poland’s borders.
After Poland erected border fences and deployed border guards and police to protect the frontier, the number of illegal entries from Belarus declined.
However, given the large influx from Ukraine, Poland will not accept additional migrants and will only partially implement the EU Migration Pact, the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw announced on the occasion of the new EU rules entering into force.
Poland is exempt from the redistribution of migrants within the EU and the associated costs. Two years of negotiations with Brussels resulted in the Migration Pact being adapted to “Polish conditions”, writes Die Welt.
“Poland will apply only those provisions that strengthen border protection, tighten migration policy, and improve access to data that helps combat illegal migration,” the statement said.